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Godzilla vs. Kong actor Millie Bobby Brown has paid tribute to her late co-star Kaylee Hottle.
On Tuesday morning in Mayland, Hottle died at the age of 18 following a car accident in Maryland. The actor’s father, Joshua Hottle, shared the tragic news on a Facebook livestream, and new details about what happened followed in the hours afterward. Brown went on social media to share some parting words for Hottle, whom she worked with on the fourth MonsterVerse movie.
On her Instagram Stories, Brown shared a black-and-white picture of Hottle, accompanied by the caption, “I’m so devastated to hear this. You will be missed Kaylee.” Authorities revealed that Hottle was riding in a 1995 Honda Accord when its driver veered off the road and hit a roadside ditch at an “excessive speed.” Joshua Hottle said during the livestream that he learned his late daughter’s heart stopped on the way to the hospital, and he was flying from Texas to Maryland to claim her body.
Born in 2007 to an all-deaf family, Hottle, who was also deaf, began her acting career appearing in a commercial for Convo, a video relay service that deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech-impaired people used to communicate with hearing people over video calls. Then, following appearances in other commercials, as well as the information project 10 Deaf Children: One Powerful Message, she made her film debut in March 2021 with Godzilla vs. Kong.
Hottle starred as Jia, the deaf adoptive daughter of Rebecca Hall’s Dr. Ilene Andrews. Jia was depicted as the sole survivor of the Iwi tribe that lived on Skull Island, previously seen in 2017’s Kong: Skull Island. She also communicated with Kong through American Sign Language, and was the primary person the giant ape talked to in the movie. Godzilla vs. Kong marked Brown’s second MonsterVerse appearance, as she first played Madison Russell in 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Godzilla vs. Kong was released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. The blockbuster earned primarily positive critical reception and made approximately $470 million worldwide. ScreenRant’s Godzilla vs. Kong review said that while the movie’s storyline “could have used some fine-tuning,” it "still manages to entertain on many levels.”
Hottle reprised Jia in 2024’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, with her, Hall, and Brian Tyree Henry being the only Godzilla vs. Kong actors to return. In this movie, Jia and the other starring characters learned that there was an Iwi tribe living deep within the Hollow Earth world, and the teenaged girl also ended up being able to awaken Mothra. Though The New Empire wasn’t as critically successful as its predecessor, it did do better commercially, making around $572.5 million worldwide.
Despite that, Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures moved forward with a sequel titled Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, which will be released on March 26, 2027. However, Hottle did not reprise Jia for the next MonsterVerse movie. Outside this franchise, she also guest-starred in an episode of the Magnum P.I. reboot as a character named Joon.
